It remains to be seen whether the Occupy Wall Street protests will change America’s direction. Yet the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who reliably serve the interests of the wealthiest hundredth of a percent.

And this reaction tells you something important — namely, that the extremists threatening American values are what F.D.R. called “economic royalists,” not the people camping in Zuccotti Park.

Consider first how Republican politicians have portrayed the modest-sized if growing demonstrations, which have involved some confrontations with the police — confrontations that seem to have involved a lot of police overreaction — but nothing one could call a riot. And there has in fact been nothing so far to match the behavior of Tea Party crowds in the summer of 2009.

Nonetheless, Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, has denounced “mobs” and “the pitting of Americans against Americans.” The G.O.P. presidential candidates have weighed in, with Mitt Romney accusing the protesters of waging “class warfare,” while Herman Cain calls them “anti-American.” My favorite, however, is Senator Rand Paul, who for some reason worries that the protesters will start seizing iPads, because they believe rich people don’t deserve to have them.

Michael Bloomberg, New York’s mayor and a financial-industry titan in his own right, was a bit more moderate, but still accused the protesters of trying to “take the jobs away from people working in this city,” a statement that bears no resemblance to the movement’s actual goals.

And if you were listening to talking heads on CNBC, you learned that the protesters “let their freak flags fly,” and are “aligned with Lenin.”

The way to understand all of this is to realize that it’s part of a broader syndrome, in which wealthy Americans who benefit hugely from a system rigged in their favor react with hysteria to anyone who points out just how rigged the system is.

Last year, you may recall, a number of financial-industry barons went wild over very mild criticism from President Obama. They denounced Mr. Obama as being almost a socialist for endorsing the so-called Volcker rule, which would simply prohibit banks backed by federal guarantees from engaging in risky speculation. And as for their reaction to proposals to close a loophole that lets some of them pay remarkably low taxes — well, Stephen Schwarzman, chairman of the Blackstone Group, compared it to Hitler’s invasion of Poland.

And then there’s the campaign of character assassination against Elizabeth Warren, the financial reformer now running for the Senate in Massachusetts. Not long ago a YouTube video of Ms. Warren making an eloquent, down-to-earth case for taxes on the rich went viral. Nothing about what she said was radical — it was no more than a modern riff on Oliver Wendell Holmes’s famous dictum that “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.”

But listening to the reliable defenders of the wealthy, you’d think that Ms. Warren was the second coming of Leon Trotsky. George Will declared that she has a “collectivist agenda,” that she believes that “individualism is a chimera.” And Rush Limbaugh called her “a parasite who hates her host. Willing to destroy the host while she sucks the life out of it.”

What’s going on here? The answer, surely, is that Wall Street’s Masters of the Universe realize, deep down, how morally indefensible their position is. They’re not John Galt; they’re not even Steve Jobs. They’re people who got rich by peddling complex financial schemes that, far from delivering clear benefits to the American people, helped push us into a crisis whose aftereffects continue to blight the lives of tens of millions of their fellow citizens.

Yet they have paid no price. Their institutions were bailed out by taxpayers, with few strings attached. They continue to benefit from explicit and implicit federal guarantees — basically, they’re still in a game of heads they win, tails taxpayers lose. And they benefit from tax loopholes that in many cases have people with multimillion-dollar incomes paying lower rates than middle-class families.

This special treatment can’t bear close scrutiny — and therefore, as they see it, there must be no close scrutiny. Anyone who points out the obvious, no matter how calmly and moderately, must be demonized and driven from the stage. In fact, the more reasonable and moderate a critic sounds, the more urgently he or she must be demonized, hence the frantic sliming of Elizabeth Warren.

So who’s really being un-American here? Not the protesters, who are simply trying to get their voices heard. No, the real extremists here are America’s oligarchs, who want to suppress any criticism of the sources of their wealth.

The Times columnist, Princeton professor, recent Nobel winner, and all-around ceaslessly smart economist Paul Krugman has a nice new co-op. According to a deed filed in city records today, Mr. Krugman and his wife, economist and yoga teacher Robin Wells, spent $1.7 million on a three-bedroom Riverside Drive apartment earlier this month

By Max Abelson 8/12/09 9:14pmThe Times columnist, Princeton professor, recent Nobel winner, and all-around ceaselessly smart economist Paul Krugman has a nice new co-op. According to a deed filed in city records Wednesday, Mr. Krugman and his wife, economist and yoga teacher Robin Wells, spent $1.7 million on a three-bedroom Riverside Drive apartment earlier this month.

“We really wanted a place that has the ultimate New York luxury, which is a washer and dryer,” Mr. Krugman said Wednesday afternoon.

Even though the couple bought their place at a big discount–it was listed early last year for $2,495,000, which became $2,199,000 and then $1,850,000–it’s slightly odd that Mr. Krugman, whose cynicism about the American housing market is not a secret, would want to buy something now. “Yes, I do expect New York prices might fall some more,” he offered, “but we need a place. And I came into some money.” He chuckled awkwardly, because he was referring to his Nobel, which comes with about $1.4 million. “We have financial resources that we didn’t have before.”

The couple’s seller happens to be former Times reporter and correspondent Joseph B. Treaster–which is a coincidence. “Never met,” Mr. Krugman said, but offered that Frank Rich is in the co-op’s sister building. Then he paused, gasping about something that the kooky Niall Ferguson wrote (“President Barack Obama reminds me of Felix the Cat… Felix was not only black. He was also very, very lucky”), then went back to the new apartment. Unlike in his old place in the neighborhood–which is about to be sold, though the couple won’t be making any money on it–this has a spare bedroom he can write in: “We’re planning on having a desk, and a Murphy bed, to make it a little more spacious for when it’s serving as an office.”

On the downside, Ms. Wells said the apartment needs to be seriously refurbished. She’s already spent $250 on a Polson light fixture. “We like Danish modern,” she explained. “We’re kind of, you know, moderate, kind of a step up from Crate and Barrel. The only thing I’m probably splurging on a little bit is upholstery fabric. I think I’ll be getting some actual Swedish fabric. But the sofa I’m covering I found on eBay; it’s one of these beautiful 1960s pieces.” That Swedish fabric, she said, is “truly expensive stuff. Oh, yeah. They’re like the Germans. Everything is perfect.”

It looks like to me that they are bitching about the mess they are in and blaming much of it on the corruption between WS and the USG.

Actually it would seem the majority of them are looking to the same government that fucked up to solve all their problems. I changed my mind with these protesters. They are totally retarded and dont want to hear about real solutions.

Actually it would seem the majority of them are looking to the same government that fucked up to solve all their problems. I changed my mind with these protesters. They are totally retarded and dong want to hear about real solutions.

Yeah some of them seem to be placing blame elsewhere where blame should be placed on themselves, I agree.

Are they asking for a bailouts like we gave to banks and companies? Is that what you mean by government solving their problems?

Or do they want the fact that our government is auction based, bought and paid for to stop?

Of the few i read, it didn't seem like anyone was asking for hand outs. It looks more like bitching.

But, (not advocating it or supporting debt forgiveness) after seeing our government bail out banks over and over again, then giving billions and trillions away on stimulus can you really blame them for bitching?

PS: the peace core chick is hot. I'd love to ____________ while she's hugging a tree.

I went to the site itself. I didn't think i needed to go to your thread. So i did, and in the first few posts are just pics from the site you listed.

And the title says: "Some" of the protesters"

so what's you point with this?

I haven't seen anyone asking for hand outs. Most of the messages seems to be bitching about how they can't find work and they are in debt. So what? what's wring that?

They are blaming the shady the practices of WS and the USG.

Are you suggesting these protesters be of the moral and civil standing you decide upon to make their cause valid? If not what's your beef?

Jesus fucking Christ you are blind then. There are at least 100 on there that specifically state, "WHERE IS MY BAILOUT" in their little notes. If you read further, others ARE already wrecking the system with Government handouts left and right, disability this, WIC that, Food Stamps this, Unemployment here, MORE School loan money and on and on and on. Its all right there.

Jesus fucking Christ you are blind then. There are at least 100 on there that specifically state, "WHERE IS MY BAILOUT" in their little notes. If you read further, others ARE already wrecking the system with Government handouts left and right, disability this, WIC that, Food Stamps this, Unemployment here, MORE School loan money and on and on and on. Its all right there.

Stop playing stupid.

WTF is wrong with you? chill out man. Take some deep breaths.

I've read quite a few. The basic gist is not the personal debt, its the lack of jobs to pay the personal debts. And when you are fucked, with out a job and deep in debt and you see what corruption there is with WS and the USG and how they got bailed out and not allowed to fail its only natural to, as part of their protest, to ask why they weren't bailed out.

Did you just zero on "that one thing" in a few of those letters from "some" of the 99% to make your big argument? Come on man....lol

BTW student loans are a good thing. They must be paid back, you cant BK them, and a resulting education usually means a better paying job with means more tax revenue.

Actually it would seem the majority of them are looking to the same government that fucked up to solve all their problems. I changed my mind with these protesters. They are totally retarded and dont want to hear about real solutions.

They are looking to the Government by protesting at Wall STreet and being beaten by the Governments cops